Browning BL .22 The Best Lever Action .22? 

I have had mine for nearly 40 years I love that little rifle

I have the Winchester 1873 in .357/.38 made in Moruko. It’s their 24” barrel grade 2. What a well done slick action. They’ve been making Browning rifles for a long time at a quality level. Known for their barrels. Japanese steel.

I bought mine in 1967. Still got the box and paperwork.

Have a BL22 too. Such a wonderful little gun. Compact, ergonomic and light. Fast shooting rate. And mine's pretty accurate. Works good with lot of ammo, including CCI mini mag and subsonic. I have replaced the trigger springs to achieve 3.5 pound. Now I have the perfect 22 riffle ;-) Nice video and editing work by the way.

I bought mine in 73 and in the subsequent 20 years put about 50 bricks through it. Tried different ammo, and it prefers Remington hollow points. Mounted a full size 4 power optic and it works extremely well. Can shoot one ragged hole @ 25 yards. Taken many squirrel and rabbits, a few on the fly. Being able to leave your hand and finger in place and still operate the lever makes for incredible speed, especially after a few thousand rounds practice. Mine has been retired now for about 25 years but is in pristine condition. Same grade 1 as yours.. My son is anxiously awaiting.

We sell them all at works. The BL22 is the best made hands down…..except for the heavy trigger pull. My gunsmith dropped it to 3.5lbs :)

Love my Browning BL 22. It was gifted to me when I graduated from high school in 1986 from my uncle. I love this rifle and it has never jammed on me or failed me once in 40 years; it’s fun to shoot and quick follow up shots. The only negative is you have to really learn how to keep the spring and extractor in place while you reinstall the receiver and bolt assembly. I’m a big fan of lever action rifles. I have a 1956 Marlin 336 30-30, that my father gifted to me before he passed away. A Henry Big Boy, 357 carbine with a color case, hardened finish. I love lever guns! I subbed your channel.

Just for clarity, Browning contracts with the company Miroku Firearms. They are located, and manufacture in, Nankoku City, Kochi, Japan.

I’ve had my BL22 since the late seventies. Great handling gun, as well as great accuracy. My only complaint is a heavy trigger pull. I took a lot of small game with mine, and its stock is pretty beat up. I wish the new ones were threaded.

Got one from 1972 and love it. But mine's not a Browning, no Browning logo anywhere. It was made by Miroku and imported to my country by a local gun maker and labeled with his name.

Nice rifle, but awesome kitty! I had a Henry Frontier, but got rid of it for a 70 year old 39a. It is a real shooter, but has enough honest wear to not make me afraid to enjoy it in the bush.

Thank you for this Video, you have a wonderfuel little rifle ❤ looks very very nice ,greetings from Germany.

My only problem with these rifles is the trigger. It has the worst trigger among all my my .22 rifles.

the internal frame on your BL-22 isn't steel, it's cast aluminum and not nearly as robust as a Marlin or Winchester. In addition, it probably has MIM parts, which aren't as robust either. If you'd like a reference I can post a thread to the rimfire central forum that explains this, but I don't want to post a link without your permission.

Marlin TDS 16.5" take down lever is very similar , check it out , I had the save version as you , but didn't like the short throw , I grew up on the standard lever angle . Nothing against it by any means , just doesn't feel right to me .

So your serial is unique for a US gun (or it isn’t a US import). Was it imported to another country? Or Canada? Maybe bought by someone overseas? I collect these and I’m very familiar with them (I won’t be pedantic about the mistakes you made in your video, seems you did your best and 99% of people wouldn’t know or care.) But if I had to guess I’d say it was built in 75 as Browning would sometimes reverse the year code like that (or a 57 would be subtracted from 100 making it a 43) I don’t know what you mean by “I’m guessing this is a vintage browning.” That really doesn’t mean anything objectively, or at least to anyone who collects these. I’m not sure what meaning “vintage” would have in any context quite frankly, it’s a term people often use that just means “old.” There are more than two grades, Grade 1 and Grade 1, yes, but they have FLD grades as well and also do special productions. The FLD means “Full Line Dealership” and they are often special barrel configs or finishes, like the Octagon barreled 24” nickel plated one with a satin finish that is currently made. I did appreciate and enjoy the video, well done. Please don’t take this as criticism or negativity, just trying to add something to it you might not know. Also, people make comments here as though they are 100% statements of facts and they’re just completely wrong. I never understood the person who can speak so factually like an authority yet be so wrong. Couple of comments here are these guys.

Keep em comin. Your videos don’t miss

I have a BL 22 Grade 2 a beautiful gun but the trigger pull is atrocious and the lever is very hard to lever . It’s about Two years old and if it wasn’t a gift from my family I would have sold it.

Miroku, and Japanese manufacturing overall, doesn't play around. They do a exceptional job with this rifle and their centerfire guns for Winchester. I suppose they wouldn't want to cannibalize their own market but I would love to see them get the 9422 back under the Winchester name alongside it.

The gloves? First thing that came to mind was "verrry Metrosexual"...........🤠 By the way - I still have my BL22 from 1969! 10th birthday present from my dad. One for my twin brother as well. Dad brought them back from Japan as he was an airline pilot from the 50's through the 80's with Braniff Int'l (remember them?) LOTS of rounds through that gun and lots of rabbits felt its sting, haha! It's in very good original condition and I've somehow resisted the urge to accessorize or modify it. It still wears the 4x Weaver scope added soon after I unwrapped it.

I sold mine and bought a Winchester 9422 because it wasn't so accurate with any ammo I tried. It is a very well made and pretty rifle. I might have bought a lemon who knows.

This is bees knees 🐝

You didn't mention the plastic barrel bands or the plastic in the receiver ! How about the heavy trigger pill ?

you don't have to dry fire the 22lr to test the trigger. Catch the hammer so it doesnt smack hard and you will be able to fire the trigger without damaging anything

sa22 thoughts?

I might have missed it. What was the price.

That pot metal receiver comment must have been a dig at Henry Firearms which employs Zamac-5 (a zinc alloy) in their .22 rifles. I chose the Golden Boy over the BL-22 for two reasons. One, that rear sight looks cheesy to me. The Henry's rear sight is more visible and looks more flexible. Two, five pounds for a rifle is TOO light for me. The Henry Golden Boy is a hefty 6.7 pounds. Made in Japan - I have no problem with that because the Japanese make fine products, from hifi equipment to rifles. What irks me about Henry is that they reserve blued steel for their center fire rifles only (their new 9mm camp carbine Homesteader uses anodized aluminum for the receiver). However, I defy anyone to show me a lever action .22 rifle, be it Browning or the older Winchester 9422 and Marlin 39-A, that eclipses the Henry's action in smoothness. Buttery smooth, as they say.

5 lbs is pretty damn heavy for a 22. a 30 m1 carbine is 5 lb

Your old Marlin looks a lot like the new Chiappa LA322. I'm just wondering, I'm looking in to a new .22lr, to replace my Henry yellow boy. And I'm looking in to a Browning and a Chiappa. What are your thoughts on the Marlin system compared to the Browning when it comes to accuarcy and cleaning? What would you prefer?

Is it made in the U S A

No longer in production.

Can you own a rifle in Japan?

You lost me at “not no potmetal 👍🏻

This guy thinks Yellowstone is real

This is an ALUMINIUM receiver, only outside it's steel! I am therefore absolutely unhappy to have purchased it! Also it's got the worst trigger of all my rifles and it's sights are worse than anything.

My BL22 stopped firing. Any ideas?